THE SCENE: There’s something thoroughly modern about the way this message between a queen and her vassal combines a guilt trip with a power flex.
THE TEXT: A communication from the daughter of the king to the lady Assur-sarrat.
Why do you not write me any letters, why do you not send me any oral message? Isn’t it in reality because people might say: “Perhaps that one [i.e. the writer of this letter] is higher in rank than she.” After all: I, Serua-eterat, am the eldest daughter born in the official residence to Assur-etel-ilani-mukinni, the great and legitimate king, king of the world, king of Assyria, while you are only a daughter-in-law, the lady of the house of Assurbanipal, the eldest son of the king born in the official residence of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria.
– Letters From Mesopotamia, edited & translated by A. Leo Oppenheimer, 7th Century BC
